'NORTH COUNTRY' DOESN'T DIG NEARLY DEEP ENOUGH.

Byline: Glenn Whipp Film Critic

'NORTH COUNTRY'' is the poor girl's ``Norma Rae'' (or ``Silkwood'' - take your pick), a simplistic, heavy-handed story about a coal miner's daughter who is pitted against a workplace full of Cro-Magnon gorillas who, as apes are wont to do, use their own excrement as a weapon of choice against anyone who crosses them.

Director Niki Caro (``Whale Rider'') and screenwriter Michael Seitzman have crafted an old-fashioned story about sexual harassment that delivers the obvious message (treating your co-workers with respect, good; turning over a porta-potty while co-worker is still inside, bad) without a shred of nuance or subtlety.

Charlize Theron plays Josey Aimes, a mother of two who returns to her Northern Minnesota hometown after the latest beating from her no-account husband. (Her father's response when Josey comes home: ``He catch you with another man? That why he lay hands on you?'') Eager to make a life for herself and her family, Josey takes a job at the local iron mine. (Her father's response: ``So now you're gonna be a lesbian?'')

Understandably, Josey would like to get away from her dad (Richard Jenkins). Upon starting her new job, she tells her kids, ``I know things are hard. But they're gonna get better.'' The next sound we hear is a loud siren blaring. Understatement isn't on the menu in this movie.

``North Country'' is based on the story of the nation's first class-action sexual-harassment lawsuit, which was settled in 1998, a decade after it was first filed and more than two decades after the abuse started. It's a significant case, one that deserves a movie containing more psychological depth and emotional truth than the composite characters the filmmakers deliver. Supporting turns by Frances McDormand (playing a no-nonsense mine worker) and Jenkins (who has the most interesting character arc) elevate individual scenes and make the movie, at times, watchable.

Caro sincerely catalogs the bad behavior, leavening it by dutifully inserting a couple of sympathetic male characters. We watch as the perpetually red-eyed Theron and her co-workers suffer indignity after indignity. We shuffle in our seats as Caro laboriously leads us to a courtroom showdown and climactic ``Spartacus'' moment. We gasp in amazement at courtroom theatrics that would shame Perry Mason, with Woody Harrelson's attorney bellowing the line ``YELLOW OR RED??'' to a witness, calling him a coward, daring him to differ. (It brings to mind a line in Bob Dylan's ``Tombstone Blues'': ``The sun's not yellow, it's chicken'' - relevant given the number of Dylan songs used in the movie.)

What's most distressing though is the way Caro and company ultimately turn Josey into an exalted victim, subverting the justness of her cause in the process. The underlying message behind a key third-act revelation is that a woman is credible so long as she can be pitied. Caro doesn't trust you to believe in (or root for) a defiant Josey; she feels forced to make her the equivalent of roadkill. Only then can she be a hero.

Glenn Whipp, [phone]

glenn.whipp(at)dailynews.com

NORTH COUNTRY - Two stars

(R: language, sequences involving sexual harassment, including violence and dialogue)

Starring: Charlize Theron, Woody Harrelson, Frances McDormand, Sean Bean, Richard Jenkins, Sissy Spacek.

Director: Niki Caro.

Running time: 2 hr. 3 min.

Playing: In wide release.

In a nutshell: The subject of sexual harassment deserves a movie containing more psychological depth and emotional truth than what the filmmakers deliver.

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Photo:

Charlize Theron is an iron miner who fights sexual harassment on the job in ``North Country.''